


Want

by Morethancupcake



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, hint of Steve/Tony but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 16:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4107310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morethancupcake/pseuds/Morethancupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People want things from him. But not everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Want

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt : Listen

Pepper wants. 

She wants him to behave, she wants him to be good, to be someone she can count on, and he used to want it too. 

She wants from him, she wants his love, and that's only fair, since he wanted hers, too, but love is greedy. She wants his time, and she wants his knowledge. She wants him to be focused, and serious, and hers, and the years pass and he can't. He can't.

When she leaves, she tells him she expects him to remain her friend, and she wants them to keep working together, and she wants other things he can't really remember. He just know he doesn't want them. Her.

 

Rhodey wants, too, another kid of want.

He wants Tony to be safe, to take better care of himself. They sit, and they laugh, and he wants him to sleep, and to eat more. 

He just wants him to be someone else entirely, it seems, and sometimes Tony wishes he could be, a good friend for Rhodey, but he doesn't really know how people do that.

 

Steve wants too. Another kind of want. He doesn't yell like Rhodey, but unlike Rhodey his words are punches Tony doesn't know how to dodge. He tries to be better, for Steve and Rhodey, and Pepper, and all the others who need him to be. He tries, but it feels like a war he started at three with Howard, a war he never could win, and Steve watches him with something he can't understand.

I'm sorry, he says sometimes, when they both are too exhausted to fight. I wish I knew how to talk to you. I wish I knew.

There's another want he sees, sometimes, in Steve's eyes. When there's both sitting in the dark, careful not to break the peace between them. Sometimes Steve's fingers on his arms aren't bruising, and turn soft. It's another kind of want, but it terrifies him. 

He's not sure he would survive.

 

Bruce listens.

He knows how to talk, words are weapons, and it keeps people at bay. But Bruce just smiles and sees right through it. Bruce doesn't even bother with a reply, he is close, eyes on a book, or on his tablet. Bruce listens to him, even when he doesn't say much. Even when little things can escape. Bruce doesn't answer, he just looks, and his eyes are balm to his wounds, as cliché as it sounds, and it's easy to let himself just be.

Bruce listens, and one day he finds himself asleep against his shoulder, and it doesn't feel odd, he doesn't jerk awake. Bruce smiles and asks him about dinner, and for the first time in a very long time, he breathes.

Bruce listens, and his smile is even more beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find it (and me !) on tumblr :) http://iwanttopizzamanyou.tumblr.com/post/121125704354/want
> 
> -picture me asking for nice comments or kudos if you feel like it-


End file.
